Star Fox Zero delayed to Q1 2016

Just when we thought Nintendo’s holiday lineup couldn’t get any smaller. Star Fox Zero‘s producer, Shigeru Miyamoto, announced over Nintendo’s Console Gaming page on Facebook that the game won’t be coming out until Q1 2016. Here’s what his message had to say:

“I made a big decision last week.

We have been developing Star Fox Zero for Wii U with the aim of releasing it this year. Although we felt that the development had been progressing well, we now believe that we will need a little more time to work on areas such as the unprecedented discovery that we want players to experience in the game by using two screens, and further polishing the level designs and perfecting the tone of the cut scenes. While we have already reached the stage where it would be technically possible to release the title in time for the year-end holiday season, we want to polish the game a bit more so that players will be able to more smoothly grasp the new style of play that we are proposing.

To the people looking forward to the launch of the game this holiday season, I am very sorry.

Star Fox Zero is going to bring new game play and experiences that take it far beyond the framework established by Star Fox 64. All the members of the development team are doing our best so that the final product will not betray your expectations. And the game will not be delayed for a very long time – we’re aiming to launch the game in Q1 2016. Please stay tuned for further announcements.”

Miyamoto once said: “A delayed game is eventually good. A bad game is bad forever.” Considering that Star Fox Zero received some negative feedback at this year’s E3 due to its underwhelming visual presentation, it’s nice to see the team at Platinum Games doing more to make this game the best it can be. However, this means that the Wii U is going to have a lackluster holiday season with only a few games like Yoshi’s Woolly World and Xenoblade Chronicles X (which I urge you Wii U owners to check out) taking the spotlight.

This delay is unfortunate, but it’ll only bring us closer to the game Star Fox fans have deserved since Star Fox 64.